His heart was visible, and the dismal sack that maketh excrement of what is eaten.

Join Date

Mar 2006

Posts

6,855

Posted On:8/02/2013 10:53am

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Kneebar Junkies Get in Here

Maybe this is old hat for some of the experienced grapplers here. I don't know. I'm certainly no ace grappler, but I do pay attention and I don't think I've ever seen this particular kneebar technique before.

It's a sneaky looking kneebar from half guard and it's evidently this guy's trademark. Maybe I'm just easy to impress but it blew me away.

Maybe this is old hat for some of the experienced grapplers here. I don't know. I'm certainly no ace grappler, but I do pay attention and I don't think I've ever seen this particular kneebar technique before.

It's a sneaky looking kneebar from half guard and it's evidently this guy's trademark. Maybe I'm just easy to impress but it blew me away.

I don't know that it's old hat, but I was taught that kneebar in 2009. I have a friend that's really good at it, so I try to avoid having my leg straight in the half guard position whether I'm on top or bottom these days. He's equally dangerous with it from both.

Ok, possible stupid question here: Why would it be harder to pull this off in either top or bottom than the other?

Originally Posted by Ming Loyalist

i really think that those who can't get their head around the bowing thing (because their angry sky daddy will punish them) don't deserve judo. life is full of choices, and if your bronze age superstitions are holding you back, so be it.

Ok, possible stupid question here: Why would it be harder to pull this off in either top or bottom than the other?

Let's put our thinking caps on for a moment, shall we?

Do you think it's easier to move around with someone on top of you, or when you're on top?

I will say that it might be a bit easier to finish from on bottom due to the fact that you are able use the mat as counter leverage when lifting your hips up off the ground in order to bend their knee the wrong way.

In summary, it's probably easier to get into the proper position from on top while it might be easier to finish the move from the bottom. Having long legs really help the most in my opinion.

I have stumpy legs and find that, when on top, I can easily get too low to maintain proper control of their upper body because I have to lower myself on their leg to effectively cross my ankles behind their ankle.

Let me first say, that my question came from a likely misinterpretation of PSB's note that "You can do it from the top, also". I took this to mean PSB felt other's may not realise this can be done from the top or that it would be more difficult to finish, for whatever reason.

Obviously, weight and pressure were the first things that came to mind as I was swirling ideas around in my thinknoggin'. However, after watching the first video PSB posted and this one:

it appeared to me the only time weight may pose a problem from bottom is if you haven't reached HG yet, or your opponent is a lot heavier than you.

What are you doing with your upper body when you try to finish from top? I haven't seen any instructionals that cover top, and it appears all the guy in PSB's video is doing is applying pressure on his opponent's hips with his shoulder.

Originally Posted by Ming Loyalist

i really think that those who can't get their head around the bowing thing (because their angry sky daddy will punish them) don't deserve judo. life is full of choices, and if your bronze age superstitions are holding you back, so be it.

Ronnie has been told by people that they think it is his stocky build that allows him to finish the attack. When on bottom he is getting completely under you. His forehead to your hips in deep half. The longer the torso/legs the more that has to fit under your opponent.

Ronnie and I got our black belts together last June. He is indeed a monster. He catches really, really good people with his knee-bar game (his resume, which includes being the number one ranked brown belt in his weight/age class and already beating the 1 ranked black belt in his weight/age, speaks for itself). I say game because it is more than just the knee bar. In fact he has a DVD on his half-guard/knee-bar game (which i highly endorse).

Besides being incredible at luring you into a false sense of security by "only pulling half-guard" and finishing the knee-bar insanely fast, he is great at turning it into a sweep whenever people try to run away from the pressure. If he lands in top half-guard he can finish or pass. I know that when he starts on top in full guard he will often pass to side, get point the points, then allow the guy on bottom to shrimp and put him in half-guard. There he catches them off guard with a knee-bar.